Bethany's Pyjama Party Round-Up

This is the last of my posts about Bethany's Pyjama birthday party...I promise!  (See the previous posts with tutorials about the girl's PJ's here and here).  

Anyway, when Bethany first announced her idea of a Pyjama-themed birthday, my first stop was google and Pinterest to try and get some inspiration.  I was trying to find ideas and inspiration for party food, party games and the birthday cake.  I was surprised to find there were not many pyjama party ideas (age-appropriate ones at least ... hmmm, cough!) around.    So Daddy and I put our thinking-caps on, and here's a run-down of the ideas we had.  Hope this might be helpful for anyone else planning a little girl's pyjama-themed party.

1.  The cake!

Whenever I start planning a birthday party, I can't help immediately starting a mental plan for the cake!  I love baking, and since I did some lessons a few years back with a friend who has an AMAZING talent with fondant icing, I have really enjoyed thinking about new fondant designs to use.  This cake was so much fun to make, and the best part was that with the blanket-icing, I didn't have to struggle with getting my icing covering all smooth around the edges, which is probably the thing I struggle with most when icing a cake with fondant.

Oh, and did you notice the icing-Bethany's PJ details?  Look familiar? ... yep I'm a little nuts for detail like that!!

2. The Food

This is Daddy's favourite part of organising any party.  He's a bit (OK, a lot) of a foodie, and he just loves to try new things.  As we decided to have a morning-time party (10am), and because of the PJ theme, we called it a PJ brunch, and made breakfasty-style food ... 

Cheese and Bacon Mini-Muffins using this recipe.

Mini-pancake Stacks (with jam and cream) - I just used the pikelet recipe from this book

"Orange Juice" - aka a shot-glass of orange-flavoured jelly

Mini Banana Muffins - Also from this book

Ham and Cheese mini-"Baguettes"

"Hot" Chocolate - For this I bought ready-made chocolate milk, and diluted it 50:50 with fresh milk (boy that ready-made stuff is strong), then just added a couple of mini-marshmallows.  It was served cold ... couldn't risk having any scalded munchkins ... but they didn't seem to mind.

The kids totally loved this one!!

We also had a couple of non-PJ-themed foods ... just 'cause we thought they'd be fun!

Fairy Bread - of course!!  (Thanks to Aunty J)

Mini-chocolate crackles

Lolly Sushi - A friend gave me this idea, and we used this recipe ... It's really cute and tastes great, but next time I would use only white marshmallows (as the "rice" turned out VERY pink), and I might choose only green-coloured fruit roll-ups, rather than a mixed pack, just so it looks a little more authentic-sushi!

3.  The games

This is the part of the party that I/we struggle most with generally.  We love planning the food, the styling, the cake, the party-bags, but what to play?  Here's the pyjama-themes games we did ... though I bet you could come up with a million other ideas:

Pin the Tail on the Donkey Slippers on the Princess ... The winners got a prize from the lucky-dip bag of goodies ... which were generally pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, little pads of paper, glow-sticks ... small trinkets like that.

A huge pat on the back for Daddy who drew the princess, and all the animal slippers for her to wear ... he's very artistic, and Mummy was SUPER impressed!

Sack Pillow-case Race - Sorry, no pic of this one, but I just bought 6 el-cheapo pillowcases (pink of course) from out local Reject Shop, and the kids lined up (6 at a time), and raced to a line we taped on the ground.  The winner scored a prize from the lucky-dip bag.  Oh, and I haven't wasted those pillowcases.  They're now in my fabric stash (after a quick wash).  Will be great as bodice-linings or other sewing fun like that!

We hired our Church Hall for the party (since Bethany invited almost 30 kids).  This was a great option as it has an outdoor area to play in which the kids were able to do at the beginning of the party while everyone arrived, then when it poured with rain a little later, and the party formalities were all done, they were totally happy to just run around in the hall, yelling and playing with balloons.  It was VERY noisy, but they all seemed happy with that ... whatever works really!

4.  The party-bags

Out of everything for the party, this was the thing I had most fun with ... I came up with the idea of using these disposable coffee cups with lids (available at most discount stores).  In them I put a sachet of hot-chocolate-mix, a few mini marshmallows, a couple of milk-bottle lollies, and a fun-size chocolate bar.  I loved that this was a novelty (and the kids and Mums told me they loved them too), and that after the hot chocolate was done, and the few lollies eaten, there were no little junky bits and pieces.  Now, don't anyone get offended if you always put little cheap toys in your party bag ... I usually do too, and the kids love them ... they're fun!  But it was nice for a change to not have to think about what I could get away with throwing out, and what I needed to find a home for...know what I mean?  

The other thing I loved was that by choosing a plain colour (black in this case), and using a little piece of ribbon and some little homemade tags, they could be used to say thank you to the guests and look just a little special too.  There was absolutely no fuss with these, they were very quick and easy.

So that's the run down of Bethany's party.  I really hope everyone who was there had a great time.  Bethany sure did.  I was really impressed by how all the kids embraced the theme and wore their jammies.  It was also fantastic to get to know the school families a little more, and have them get to know us too.  

Also, can't post about this without saying a MASSIVE thanks to Daddy's family (Mum, Dad, Sister, Brother and Aunties) who were fabulous on the day with helping to put together all the food.  Mummy was a little stressed about hosting so many kids, especially seeing as this was our first go at a party where the parents could leave their kids, and come back later if they wanted to.  Our family were such a blessing on this day to take away all the kitchen stress so Mummy and Daddy could concentrate on the kids.  Thank you, thank you!

Hidden Goodness Homemade Pizza Recipe ... and my first ever Product Review!

Well this post is an exciting first for me ... it's my first Product Review.  The lovely Taryn of Wordstorm has sent me the Masha to take for a spin.  The Masha is an electric masher.  At first glance it resembles a stick blender, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that instead of a blade to cut and puree the food, it has a "rotor-cone" which spins and pushes the food out to the sides where it is forced through small holes, thereby mashing instead of pureeing.  Taryn has asked me to give the Masha a go, and to create a recipe using it.  By doing this, I'm in the running to have my recipe and blog featured in the Masha Recipe book.  

I took the Masha away on holidays with me over the past couple of weeks, and had a think about what I could create, and I decided I'd tackle our current toddler food issues...

Hannah is really NOT keen on her vegies at the moment.  So being the Mummy of a non-vegie-eating toddler means I need to be very creative with getting those healthy foods into her.  I do want to say though that I always encourage her to eat vegies in their normal form.  This is a fact of life afterall, and she needs to learn to like vegies whether she wants to or not, but as this is going to be a long-term battle with stubborn little Hannah, Daddy and I have become very good at hiding, disguising and generally tricking Hannah into eating them without realising it.  Now, one of our favourite weekend dinners for a long time has been homemade pizza, and I have now created a pizza sauce recipe (using the Masha) to incorporate an insane amount of vegies.  And the best part is that both Bethany and Hannah dig in and almost inhale this pizza without even realising how healthy it actually is.  Well, to be truthful, Bethany (who's always been a great vegie eater) is in on the secret, and she takes great delight in helping to cut up the vegies, and spread the pizza sauce, then giggling while Hannah slurps up every last mouthful!

I've also managed to fluke a super-easy pizza-base ... what do they say about necessity and invention?  I went away on holidays without my usual recipe for a pizza base, so I just kinda made it up as I went along and it actually worked pretty well.  I thought I'd share that as well, though I'm sure there's a tonne of good recipes online!

Here's how to make the Hidden Goodness Homemade Pizza:

Pizza Sauce Ingredients: (Note: Makes enough for about a gazillion pizzas, so you can make it in smaller quantities if you like, or see below for left-overs ideas.)
- 1/2 a butternut pumpkin
- 1 sweet potato
- 2 zucchinis
- 2 carrots
- 1 head of broccoli
- 1/2 an onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp sugar/brown sugar or honey

Pizza Base Ingredients: (Makes enough for 1 large pizza, which is plenty for the 4 of us for dinner, with a couple of left-over pieces in the fridge)
- 3 cups plain flour
- 14g dry yeast (2 sachets)
- 200ml warm water (plus a little extra in case you need it)
- 1 tsp sugar

Method (the sauce):
1. Cut up the pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchinis, carrots and broccoli into even-sized pieces (so they cook evenly)

2. Place these vegies into a steamer pot, and steam over boiling water for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the vegies are very soft ... almost overcooked! (You could always microwave your vegies if that's what you prefer to do ... me, well I've always liked steaming!)

3. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and garlic and set aside for later.

4. Once the vegies are steamed, pour out the water from the pot, then transfer the vegies to the now dry pot.

Here's the exciting bit ....

5. Crack out your shiny, new Masha, and gently mash the vegies.  You don't need to go overboard, as the Masha is stronger than it seems, and the vegies will literally be mashed and ready to spread within about 30 seconds!

Yep, I had a helper!!

6. Add the onion and garlic and mix well.

7. Add the tomato paste and sugar/honey and mix well.

8. Spread over your pizza base (see below for recipe), top with desired pizza toppings, cook in oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and nice and golden, then serve.  Yummo!

YUMMO!!!

Variations:

- You can pretty much substitute any vegies in this recipe, but I find it helpful to have a pasty base vegie like pumpkin or sweet potato.  It stops the mixture from being too watery, and also gives a good sweet flavour-base.

- With left-over pizza sauce, I suggest freezing in an ice-cube tray to use as sandwich spread, for more pizzas, or even as a stir-through sauce for noodles or pasta. My girls LOVE any of these variations.

Method (the pizza base)
1. In a small bowl place dry yeast, sugar and 200ml warm (not hot) water. Stir well to dissolve yeast and sugar and set aside
2. Sift flour into a large mixing bowl
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the water/yeast mixture.  Mix well with hands until it comes together into a rough dough.  You may need a little more water if it's too dry.  Add sparingly until dough comes together.
4.  Knead dough well on a floured surface for at least 3-4 minutes
5.  Place dough back into bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Leave sitting in a warm position for approximately 30-60 minutes, or until dough has risen to about double it's original size.
6.  Roll or press dough into desired pizza shape on an oven-safe tray.  We just used a cookie sheet and pressed out into a large rectangle-ish shape.

Then you're ready to top and cook.  The base will take approximately 10-15 minutes to be cooked in a moderate oven (around 180 C).

So what did I think of the Masha?  Overall, I found it to be great.  It is much more powerful than I thought it was going to be, and it definitely mashes rather than blends the food, which is a good thing when you want to maintain some texture and avoid the dreaded glue-like glugg.  I also like that the Masha "rotor-cone" is plastic, as it seems like it is safer, especially in a kitchen where lots of little fingers are always keen to help.

If I had to give a negative, I would say that it's a shame the base part (around the rotor-cone) is made of white-coloured plastic, as after just one masha-use with pumpkin and other orange-coloured vegies, and with an immediate rinse off after mashing, this part is now stained and no longer it's pristine white colour. Oh well, no biggy I guess!  This doesn't affect the performance of the Masha in any way.

Anyway, hope you (and your vegie-refusing toddlers) love this pizza sauce as much as we do.  Again, a huge thanks to Taryn and Wordstorm for the opportunity to feature this product and create a recipe!

My version of a Pillowcase (Kinda!) Nightgown ... Hannah's matching (but not) PJ's

As I mentioned in my last post, Bethany celebrated her 5th birthday with a Pyjama-themed party.  So of course, as Bethany got some new PJ's Hannah needed some too.  Now I've mentioned before that I'm not a huge fan of the matchy-matchy-sisters-in-matching-outfits thing.  Well, I still don't love the idea of them wearing EXACTLY the same outfits, but there is something just a little bit cute about wearing coordinating outfits with matching elements.  Maybe this Mummy is just a massive nerd (actually, that's definitely true), or maybe this just fulfills Mummy's secret wish to have a sister (I have 2 brothers).  I dunno, but I just loved the idea of Hannah wearing matching (but not) PJ's to Bethany's party.  I also thought Hannah's cute little chubby legs and those soft squishy baby shoulders would look just adorable in a pillowcase-style dress ... and was I right or what!?!

My intention had been to make Bethany's PJ's (to ensure the birthday girl had her new PJ's), then do some internet searching to find an easy pillowcase dress tutorial.  Well in my usual style, my plans were a little ambitious compared with the actual time available, and I had literally an hour from start to finish to be able to get Hannah's outfit done.  No time for searching blogs for good tutorials (though I'm positive there are many better ones out there than this).  I had just enough time to wing it and pull this quicky off.  Here's how I did it:

I used:

- About 1/2 Metre / Yard of pink gingham fabric (I used yardage instead of an actual pillowcase), but there will be leftovers from this amount.

- 1 yard of lace

- 1 1/2 metres / yards pink ribbon

- Coordinating cotton

- Sewing Machine

- Overlocker (Serger) if you have one

- Cutting mat, scissors, rotary cutter and measuring tape

This made a nightgown to fit my petite little 15 month old.  You could always adjust the measurements of length and width to better fit your munchkin if you need a different size.

The How To:

1. Fold the fabric in half to make a rectangle measuring 8 inches wide (equals 16" when opened out), and 16 inches long, and cut 2 of these.

  

2. Cut an arc out of the top corner pieces of the rectangle (not the folded side) like so.  I just freehanded this arc, but it starts about 3" down the side of the rectangle, and ends about 2.5" in to the top edge of the rectangle.

3.  Place the cut rectangle directly on top of the other rectangle, and use the first as a guide to cut an identical arc on the other piece.

4.  Open out your rectangles like so, and place on top of each other.

5.  Sew down the side seams, and finish with an overlocker (serger) or zig-zag along the seam to stop the fabric from fraying.

6. Open out the seams, and overlock/ zig-zag around the arc (which is the arm hole), then turn under 1/4 inch and sew down.

7. Next overlock across the two straight top edges, then turn down 1 inch and sew abour 1/8 inch from the overlocked edge.

8. Sew a piece of lace (or ribbon/ric-rac/whatever takes your fancy) along the top to cover the row of stitching you just made.  At each end, simply take the lace around to the back, tuck under 1/4" and sew in place.

9. Overlock around the hemline of the nightgown, then tuck under a 1 inch hem, and sew around.  I didn't have enough lace left to put lace at the bottom as well, so I used some pink ribbon that matches the ribbon which will form the straps.  I think it looks cute too!

10.  Grab your ribbon and measure it along the top edge of the nightgown.  You want it to gather up the nightgown, but you also need some room for tying a bow, so cut 2 pieces of ribbon at the length of the top edge plus approximately 5 inches (Mine were about 17 inches long).

11.  Use a safety pin to thread the ribbon through each side of the dress.

12. Tie a bow in each end of the ribbons, joining the two pieces of ribbon together to make the sweet little straps.  You can gather the fabric onto the ribbon to make it easier to tie, and to get the cute gathered look in the nightgown.

13.  Once you have the front and backs of the nightgown gathered as much as you like to sit properly, I suggests making a little row of stitching across the ribbon where it exits the neckline casing at each of the 4 places, just to hold the ribbon in that position.  It stops the nightgown from un-gathering (not sure if that's a word, but we'll go with it!)  You can see from this photo that I hadn't done these extra little ribbon-holding stitches yet, and it kinda just looks like a square piece of fabric.

See how much cuter and dress-like with this little bit of additional stitching.

Oh, love that little rice-farmer squat! 

Anyway, enough gushing about my cute tiny person!!  

So, both my girls have nice new summer PJ's.  Pity it's starting to get cold here now... might just have to find a winter PJ pattern now!  Oh, and stay-tuned for my how-to on hosting a kids PJ themed party.